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The power of the “to dont” list and why you should keep one
I tend to get distracted easily. I have the shiny new object syndrome disease. I tend to take time to understand what made me master a task or a skill and so I tend to make a lot of mistakes. Which is...
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Top 5 tips on how to come up with milestones that are measurable for your...
Most founders will come up with following variations of milestones when they get started with their company. 1. Ship beta version of the product by Dec 2. Raise $XXXK in funding 3. Get to $YY in...
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What is customer segmentation and why is it important for the #startup...
One of the first things you will realize as an entrepreneur is that you will need to be absolutely clear about your customer’s problems and envision your product solving their most important pain...
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The 3 most important questions you will need to answer about customer...
Customer segmentation for entrepreneurs is a tool to reduce distractions, focus your product roadmap towards your Minimum Viable product and create personas that can help your marketing, sales and...
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Continuous Visible Customer Validation: Using Do, Doing Done to Customer...
There are multiple methods to keep track of your projects and priorities. Here is one technique I used when trying to keep track of customer validation. This approach works best when teams are in one...
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The ultimate list of competitive analysis landscape charts with 7 complete...
Depending on the audience you will be asked to show a “competitive landscape chart” of your domain and the major players in the market. The main purpose of the competitive landscape chart is to...
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Why you should have at least 1 investor / advisor who has been an...
I think the best thing you can do is to celebrate small milestones at your startup more frequently. They help you ride out the sine-curve of emotions (or the roller coaster journey if you prefer that...
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A framework to think about experiments for your startup
Experimenting is at the core of building and tying new ideas. A opposed to having a clear problem to solve, experiments are designed to “try” out ideas that you have and yet know if they will work or...
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Advisory deck vs. Board deck – what’s the difference?
I am on the advisory board of 2 companies and on the board of directors of 1. One way to think of startups as going through the “forever school of learning”. Before MVP you have 4 seasons or primary...
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#napkinStage customer service at startups is becoming the sales team
While sales people are becoming marketers at #napkinStage companies and marketers are becoming more data driven product managers, customer service managers are becoming the best sales people. Changing...
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Fired and interviewing again for the same role
Lets say you left the job you did for 2-3 years, i.e.the co-founder of a startup. You were fired, “let go”, decided to leave or “step down”. Either ways, you are doing something different than what you...
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How to pick and choose early users / customer for your #napkinStage startup?
The first few customers (or users) usually set the tone for your startup. They are the ones with either acute pain or the burning problem, and the earliest of early adopters. Usually, I have found that...
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How to decide which startup to join if you are considering switching jobs
I get an email or 2 every week from employees at large companies who have interviewed at a startup wondering if “startup X” is good, will do well, or “is a good bet”. Most of the time I dont know about...
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“Peak IT”: Or how most new startups may NEVER have an “IT department” in...
Yesterday I had the chance to talk to 2 startups. One has been around for 2 years and has raised $2 Million in seed funding and is in the B2B SaaS (Marketing) space. The other is older, has raised a...
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The difference between metrics-driven and data-driven startups
Data driven means that progress in an activity is compelled by data, rather than by intuition or personal experience. It is what scientists call evidence based decision making. Metrics driven means...
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Ability to sell, but need not be a #salesman 21 traits to look for in...
Most entrepreneurs need to be able to sell. To potential employees, to customers, investors, etc. In fact the most challenging part that most entrepreneurs realize is if they cant sell – their vision,...
View ArticleConversations with 21 Chief Strategy Officers: 2020 will be the year of...
Over the last 10 years many in the technology industry have heard of and used the term “digital transformation” to support their case to a) move to the cloud, b) revamp old systems, c) leverage new...
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What salary and equity should a startup CTO expect? #Startup #Equity #CTO
If you have decided that your goal is to become a CTO, then I recommend you direct your career towards that goal. Putting together a working backwards plan to become a CTO and executing to that plan...
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